Singing the Lord’s Songs
Dan Schrock
Sometimes you just don’t feel like singing. I once knew a young man—a college student—who was in a car accident. At the end of the fall semester he and three other college students hopped in a car to go home for Christmas. They decided to drive all night. Around 2:00 AM, the driver fell asleep […]
An Anniversary . . . and a Future
Dan Schrock
15 years ago this morning, at 8:45, a passenger jet from Boston crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, tearing a hole in the building and setting it on fire. 18 minutes later another passenger jet, also from Boston, crashed into the south tower of the World Trade […]
From Suffering to Glory
Dan Schrock
Many of us in this congregation know a thing or two about suffering. We’ve lived through car accidents that damaged major parts of our bodies. We’ve miscarried children. We’ve endured the surgeries, radiations, and chemotherapies of cancer. We’ve trekked through the desolate territory of cold, bitter relationships. We’ve sat beside people we love who have […]
Fully Committed God
Dan Schrock
I know a man who has had a hard life. He and his immediate family members have experienced bipolar disorder, two nasty divorces, long periods of being out of work, chronic physical illness, and a car accident that killed the driver. Because of these chronic conditions and misfortunes, this poor man’s life has often been […]
Resisting Racism
Dan Schrock
When I was 12 years old, my parents adopted another child. One morning in May 1971, I went to school without a brother; that same day when I came home from school, there he was, my new brother, who had been born in the Goshen hospital just 3 days before. Matthew is biracial: his biological […]
Strong and Courageous
Dan Schrock
We Mennonites should spend more time learning from the book of Daniel. More than most books of the Bible, Daniel gives us ideas for living and working in an empire. How can we be faithful to God while living in an empire that does not share our vision or our values? That is the overarching […]
The Heart and Soul of God’s Reputation
Dan Schrock
While living in Miami in my early 20s, I was mentored by a man named Leroy, who cared very much about his reputation in the community. Leroy cared about his reputation because he was both a businessman and a pastor. Leroy believed his success as a businessman depended mostly on how other people evaluated his […]
A Response to Graces
Dan Schrock
To understand this story, let us read it in its proper literary context. Let us go all the way back to Genesis 12, when Abraham and Sarah, then known as Abram and Sarai, first received their call to ministry. In summoning them to ministry, God was both blunt and specific. God said: “Go . . […]
Idolatry
Dan Schrock
I once knew a college student whose idol was reason and logic. He loved the life of his own mind, the way his brain could dance and leap from one idea to another idea. In a split second, he could spot the flaw in someone else’s argument and tear it to shreds. He loved smashing […]
Body Fragrance
Dan Schrock
40 years ago, shortly after the Vietnam War ended, the Holdeman Mennonite Church near Wakarusa, grappled with the issue of body odor. The issue of body odor came up when the congregation resettled a family of refugees from Southeast Asia. The Vietnam War, badly managed by the United States, had created hundreds of thousands of […]
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